Abstract
This paper aims to make a specific contribution relating to the determinants of financial distress among undergraduate students in Malaysia. Therefore, this paper tends to assess the relationship between religiosity, financial knowledge, and financial behaviour on financial distress to examine whether public universities’ students are equipped with sufficient financial knowledge, depth of religiosity, and right financial behaviour to face this issue. First, the literature on personal financial distress is reviewed with a view to the identification of useful models and concepts. The small number of reference especially on personal financial distress in that literature is noted, especially here in Malaysia. The debate will focus issues on the influence of religiosity, financial knowledge & financial behaviour towards financial distress among undergrad students. Finally, a proposed theoretical framework is recommended to examine on how religiosity, financial knowledge, and financial behaviour influence personal financial distress. We anticipate that behavioural traits will emerge as having a stronger impact on the incidence of financial distress than religiosity or financial knowledge. We expect the results will raise questions about whether policy can be oriented towards improving financial habits and mitigating the impact of behavioural characteristics on personal finances. It presents an ideal approach whereby policymakers are confronted with the latest research findings concerning the determinants of financial distress, how they can be applied, how the policymakers can attempt to increase and improve the financial knowledge and inculcate positive financial behaviour in Malaysia through education. In return, it will permit researchers to study “cases” over time and to gain greater depth of knowledge concerning not only the presence of behavioural success-related traits, but also an understanding of how policymakers navigate the public universities’ students towards financial knowledge and eventually reduce financial distress by fine-tuning their levels of readiness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
2nd American Express national survey finds worker financial stress lingering into 2004: (2004, April 1). Press release, American Express Financial Services.
Bagwell, D. C., & Kim, J. (2003). Financial stress, health status, and absenteeism in credit counseling clients. Journal of Consumer Education, 21, 50–58.
Beal, D. J., & Delpachitra, S. B. (2003). Financial literacy among Australian university students. Economic Papers, 22(1), 65–78.
Chen, H., & Volpe, R. P. (1998). An analysis of personal financial literacy among college students. Financial Services Review, 7 (2), 22 107–128.
Davidson, I. B. (2006). Financial literacy important for future. Montana Business Quarterly, 44 (3). Retrieved from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-33521732_ITM.
Drentea, P. (2000). Age, debt and anxiety. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41(4), 437–450.
Drentea, P., & Lavrakas, P. J. (2000). Over the limit: The association among health status, race and debt. Social Science and Medicine, 50, 517–529.
Freeman, C., Carlson, J., & Sperry, L. (1993). Alderian marital therapy strategies with middle income couples facing financial stress. American Journal of Family Therapy, 21(4), 324–332.
Garman, E. T., & Sorhaindo, B. (2005). Delphi study of experts’ rankings of personal finance concepts important in the development of the In charge financial distress/financial wellbeing scale. Consumer Interests Annual, 51, 184–194.
Hayduk, L. A., & Littvay, L. (2012). Should researchers use single indicators, best indicators, or multiple indicators in structural equation models? BMC Medical Research Methodology, 12(1), 12–159.
Hilgert, M., Hogarth, J., & Beverly, S. (2003). Household financial management: The connection between knowledge and behavior. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 309–322.
Hira, T. K. (1997). Financial attitudes, beliefs and behaviors: Differences by age. Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, 21, 271–290.
Ibrahim, D., Harun, R., & Mohamed Isa, Z. (2009). A study on financial literacy of Malaysian degree students. Cross-Cultural Communication, 5(4), 51–59.
Jacobson, B. H., Aldana, S. G., Goetzel, R. Z., Vardell, K. D., Adams, T. B, & Pietras, R. J. (1996). The relationship between perceived stress and self-reported illness-related absenteeism. American Journal of Health Promotion, 54–61.
John, D. R. (1999). Consumer socialization of children: A retrospective look at twenty-five years of research. Journal of Consumer Research, 26, 183–213.
Kernis, M. H., Grannemann, B. D., & Mathis, L. C. (1991). Stability of self-esteem as a moderator of the relation between level of self-esteem and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 80–84.
Lyons, A. C., Scherpf, E., & Roberts, H. (2006). Financial education and communication between parents and children. The Journal of Consumer Education, 23, 64–76.
Mokhlis, S. (2009). Relevancy and measurement of religiosity in consumer behavior research. International Business Research, 2(3), 75–84.
Markovich, C. A., & DeVaney, S. A. (1997). College seniors’ personal finance knowledge and practices. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, Fall, 61–65.
Murphy, A. J. (2005). Money, money, money: An exploratory study on the financial literacy of Black college students. College Student Journal, 39(3), 478–488.
McCarthy, Y. (2011, February). Behavioural characteristics and financial distress. Paper presented at the Conference on Household Finance and Consumption (Luxembourg).
Norvilitis, J., & MacLean, M. (2010). The role of parents in college students’ financial behaviors and attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31(1), 55–63.
Norvilitis, J. M., Merwin, M. M., Osberg, T. M., Roehling, P. V., Young, P., & Kamas, M. M. (2006). Personality factors, money attitudes, financial literacy, and credit card debt in college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(6), 1395–1413.
Olson, D. H., McCubbin, H. I., Barnes, H., Larsen, A., Muxen M., & Wilson, M. (1983). Families: what makes them work? Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
O’Neill, B. (2004, December). Small steps to health and wealth. The Forum For Family & Consumer Issues. Retrieved December 29, 2004, from www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/9_3/smallsteps.html.
O’Neill, B., Sorhaindo, B., Xiao, J. J., & Garman, E. T. (2005a). Financially distressed consumers: Their financial practices, financial well-being, and health. Financial Counseling and Planning, 16(1), 73–87.
O’Neill, B., Sorhaindo, B., Xiao, J. J., & Garman, E. T. (2005b). Health, financial well-being, and financial practices of financially distressed consumers. Consumer Interests Annual, 51, 80–82.
O’Neill, B., Sorhaindo, B., Xiao, J. J., & Garman, E. T. (2005c). Negative health effects of financial stress. Consumer Interests Annual, 51, 260–262.
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Collins, K. M. T. (2007). A typology of mixed methods sampling designs in social science research. The Qualitative Report, 12(2), 281–316.
Perry, V. G., & Morris, M. D. (2005). Who is in control? The role of self-perception, knowledge, and income in explaining consumer financial behavior. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(2), 299–313.
Pillai, R., Carlo, R., & D’souza, R. (2010). Financial prudence among youth. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, 22. Retrieved from http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/22450/1/MPRA_paper_22450.pdf.
Robb, C. A., & Sharpe, D. L. (2009). Effect of personal financial literacy on college student’s credit card behaviour. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 20(1), 25–43.
Roy. M. (2003). ANZ survey of adult financial literacy in Australia—telephone survey report (pp. 428). Melbourne: ANZ Banking Group. Retrieved from http://www.anz.com.au/.
Sabri, M. F., & Falahati, L. (2014). Toward a framework of financial wellness determinants: investigating the moderating effect of religion. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 8(9), 275–281.
Shim, S., Xiao, J. J., Barber, B. L., & Lyons, A. C. (2009). Pathways to life success: a conceptual model of financial distress for young adults. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(6), 708–723.
Shweder, R. A. (1991). Thinking through cultures: expeditions in cultural psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
The MetLife study of employee benefits trends: (2003, November). Findings from the 2003 national survey of employers and employees. New York: MetLife Insurance Company.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lajuni, N., Bujang, I., Aziz Karia, A. (2018). The Effect of Religiosity, Financial Knowledge, and Financial Behaviour on Financial Distress Among Undergraduate Students. In: Noordin, F., Othman, A., Kassim, E. (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd Advances in Business Research International Conference. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6053-3_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6053-3_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6052-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6053-3
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)